Shattrah, Iron Docks and Being Behind
Shattrah turned out to be even better than I expected. When I finally arrived, I was put into one of the single player scenarios that have become synonymous in my mind with something awesome about to happen.
It happened.
The Battle for Shattrah was on. I was a little confused when the NPCs started talking about an Iron Horde super weapon. Either I missed a quest chain somewhere or that’s revealed in the Alliance side of the story. I rolled through the Iron Horde and made my way down to the docks. An earlier quest had me help Durotan confront Ogrim Doomhammer. Thrall is always saying “FOR DOOMHAMMER!” so I assumed Doomhammer would be a good guy but when you first met him he tried to kill Durotan and me.
That’s definitely puts him in the ‘bad guy’ category in my book. But when we reached Blackhand, Doomhammer had had second thoughts and the battle was on.
The cut scene at the end of that battle with Yrel, Maraad, and Durotan was just amazing. It’s right up there with Wrathgate and Grom versus Mannoroth. I really, really want to go back through and level up one of my Alliance toons after I get Honors settled at Level 100.
After the Battle of Shattrah, I met with Aarakoa.
I really enjoyed their quests in Burning Crusade and it appears we will have another Aarakoa rep in Warlords. I decided to try out a dungeon for the first time and queued as both a Tank and a DPS. You can guess which one popped. I got Iron Docks, and I warned the group it was my first time in the instance. To my surprise two others in the party said the same. The dungeon was pretty cool. The Developers have really upped their game with the Dungeon Journal. I was able to take a quick glance before most fights and know the basics of what I need to do. I’m feel like I do so much better as a tank than I am as a DPS. I have no idea why. Fundamentally, it’s the same sort of thing: target switching, positioning, reactions. I managed to score some pants off the final boss and I’m starting to replace the Heroic gear I got while I was a trial on Zul’jin.
I finished the night percentage points shy of Level 96. True to my earlier fears, one of my Followers Olim Umberhide actually hit 96 before I did.
Yes, I’m behind because I lost the first three days of the Expansion to queues and DDoS attacks, but I’m only Level 96. Raids opened Tuesday and the team from the guild I’m in starts their runs tonight. Would I be 100 if I had had those three days? The answer is most likely not. Even if I was Level 100, I would be only beginning the gear grind and I still might not be ready to join them. I really would like to raid, and I would love to do some tanking, but no one owes me a raid spot and certainly not a tank spot. Raids are opening and I’m not anywhere near ready.
I’m going to have to play this like I did back in Vanilla. I got to max level well after the raiding started. I will continue to plug away, enjoying the zones and the stories. Once I’m max level I’ll see if I can find my way onto a team, preferable one in the guild, or at least on Shadow Council. If I can’t, I’ll go looking for a team.
It happened.
The Battle for Shattrah was on. I was a little confused when the NPCs started talking about an Iron Horde super weapon. Either I missed a quest chain somewhere or that’s revealed in the Alliance side of the story. I rolled through the Iron Horde and made my way down to the docks. An earlier quest had me help Durotan confront Ogrim Doomhammer. Thrall is always saying “FOR DOOMHAMMER!” so I assumed Doomhammer would be a good guy but when you first met him he tried to kill Durotan and me.
That’s definitely puts him in the ‘bad guy’ category in my book. But when we reached Blackhand, Doomhammer had had second thoughts and the battle was on.
The cut scene at the end of that battle with Yrel, Maraad, and Durotan was just amazing. It’s right up there with Wrathgate and Grom versus Mannoroth. I really, really want to go back through and level up one of my Alliance toons after I get Honors settled at Level 100.
After the Battle of Shattrah, I met with Aarakoa.
I really enjoyed their quests in Burning Crusade and it appears we will have another Aarakoa rep in Warlords. I decided to try out a dungeon for the first time and queued as both a Tank and a DPS. You can guess which one popped. I got Iron Docks, and I warned the group it was my first time in the instance. To my surprise two others in the party said the same. The dungeon was pretty cool. The Developers have really upped their game with the Dungeon Journal. I was able to take a quick glance before most fights and know the basics of what I need to do. I’m feel like I do so much better as a tank than I am as a DPS. I have no idea why. Fundamentally, it’s the same sort of thing: target switching, positioning, reactions. I managed to score some pants off the final boss and I’m starting to replace the Heroic gear I got while I was a trial on Zul’jin.
I finished the night percentage points shy of Level 96. True to my earlier fears, one of my Followers Olim Umberhide actually hit 96 before I did.
Yes, I’m behind because I lost the first three days of the Expansion to queues and DDoS attacks, but I’m only Level 96. Raids opened Tuesday and the team from the guild I’m in starts their runs tonight. Would I be 100 if I had had those three days? The answer is most likely not. Even if I was Level 100, I would be only beginning the gear grind and I still might not be ready to join them. I really would like to raid, and I would love to do some tanking, but no one owes me a raid spot and certainly not a tank spot. Raids are opening and I’m not anywhere near ready.
I’m going to have to play this like I did back in Vanilla. I got to max level well after the raiding started. I will continue to plug away, enjoying the zones and the stories. Once I’m max level I’ll see if I can find my way onto a team, preferable one in the guild, or at least on Shadow Council. If I can’t, I’ll go looking for a team.
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